Rise
by Cerulean Pen
Summary: She's nicknamed Bouncing Bette because she's always so full of energy and happiness and life…and now she's in the ground, drained and sad and dead. No real pairings.


Rise

Summary: She's nicknamed Bouncing Bette because she's always so full of energy and happiness and life…and now she's in the ground, drained and sad and dead. No real pairings.

English Angst/Tragedy Rated: T Chapters:1 Words: Bette

**A/N: I love Bette, even though she's hardly a character in "GONE." I also consider her death to be the first real death of the FAYZ, and it's just really sad that she had to die. Oh, well, leave a review, and you'll save yourself from stepping out.**

Bette Beatty was nicknamed "Bouncing Bette" by Sam Temple, a boy she had known since second grade, a laid-back surfer who came close to beating her in track, but wasn't fast enough. Bette thinks that Sam is crazy to nick name her this, until everyone starts to refer to her this way, and Bette gives into it. Besides, Bouncing Bette suites her, considering she was always on the move, always full of energy, just a flash of curls and a toothy smile, and she was gone.

_"…'I'm sorry.' 'No, it's not your fault, Bette.'"_

The reason she was always full of energy at school is because her mother is a pastry chef, and Bette is continuously exposed to a vast amount of sugar, the root of her unfathomable, maybe slightly crazed, smile. On a 'round the clock sugar rush appealed to her, so Bette took the personality to heart.

_"'Look at the way one side of her face droops…'"_

Bette was sitting at her desk, tapping her pencil repetitively against her desk, day-dreaming about a cup of ice cream, how cold and sweet it would taste. Then, their history teacher disappeared, no flash of light, no cloud of smoke, just poof, and he was gone. Bette was convinced she was asleep, in a dream, until Sam turned around, with a "was that just me?" expression, leaving her to shrug.

_"'Stop hitting her, she's starting to bleed!'"_

From there, the FAYZ started: it had been fun at first, eating chips and candy and all the ice cream she could find, only to go to bed late and sleep in. Then, things had turned bad when arguments broke out, the fire started, Sam Temple was shooting beams of light from his God forsaken hands. Bette had been intrigued, curious, and she decided to see if she had the same power…

_"'Bette, oh God, can you hear me?'"_

Bette had been absolutely ecstatic when tiny balls of glowing light floated from her hands, as kids gathered around her, cheering her on like she was a street performer, giggling and pointing in amusement. She was smiling, smiling, feeling sun on her cheeks, little spheres of light floating around her like fireflies in the daytime…

_"'Everybody quiet!'"_

Suddenly, someone with a meaty hand had grip on her curly hair, lifting her small, agile body right off of the sidewalk, a few droplets of blood sliding down the back of her head, trickling down her neck. A baseball bat, not cheap and aluminum, but heavy and wooden, collided over and over with her skull. Each felt like a stake was being driven further and further into her brain. Sounds of screams were beginning to fade, as her vision blurred, colors mixing together like a painting left in the rain.

_"'That'll teach you to use powers, freak.'"_

Bette didn't know how she picked herself up off of the ground, but somehow she did, and stumbled through the streets, blood gushing down her bruised cheeks. She could still feel the solid, heavy weapon on her forehead, even though it wasn't there, trying to figure out whether she was really alive, or still unconscious in the street.

_"'Can you hear me?'"_

Dahra had looked horrified when she stumbled in, dropping the heavy medical book all together, as Elwood awoke from his sleep, jumping to his feet to guide Bette over to an empty bed. Cookie wouldn't stop groaning about his pain, while the little girl Mary had, Ashley, needed to sit on the toilet. Bette wasn't aware of any of this, except for Dahra, who was trying to heal her, trying to safe her from this.

_"'Look at all of this blood-Elwood, bring me some bandages!'"_

Bette knew Dahra was already overwhelmed trying to handle everything at once, so when she erupted, Bette did her best to apologize, not recognizing her slurred voice in her pounding ears. Dahra had shaken her head, just as something hit her, not the baseball bat, but like an invisible fist, that sent her backwards on the bed, attempting to catch her breath, things blurring even worse before her.

_"'Where's her brother?'"_

But suddenly, Bette didn't feel the pain of her wounds anymore, nor the rushing blood against her flesh, just a strange, flighty sensation, like she was dreaming, or she was a bird. Soft angel wings were carrying her upwards, away from the clinic and Dahra and the baseball bat and little balls of light and her little brother and blood and pain and Sam Temple and ice cream and day-dreaming. She didn't resist, only embraced the amazing feeling, floating towards the sun, and wishing her little brother safety back on Earth.

Then darkness.

_"'She's dead.' 'I'll call Edilio, he has a backhoe.'"_

Sam glanced over at Edilio, who was squinting at the grave, as if something wasn't quite right, darkness nearly masking his expression. "You okay?" Edilio whispered, the two boys staring on at the first real death of the FAYZ, that was lost to the violence that could've occurred if Sam hadn't stepped up.

"I had nicknamed her Bouncing Bette because she was always so full of life," Sam murmured, lost in his thoughts, focused solely on the slightly wilting flower marking Bette's grave, a red rose, because of her wild curls. "Now, she's dead." Something like a grin, a mournful, depressed grin, crossed his face. "She was also the only girl who could run a mile faster then me."

Edilio sighed softly, but let the corners of his mouth twitch, unaware that somewhere up in the clouds of Heaven, a girl with curly hair and angel wings, ice cream in one hand, was looking down on them, smiling when Sam murmured his last sentence. "Sometime in the future, Sam," she whispered, taking a spoonful of cold, sweet vanilla, "we'll have to hold another race, to see if you've still got it."

**Didn't want to have that little Sam/Bette at the end, just take it as friendship, like the kind of friends that have known each other since they were little kids and they make fun of each other. A little more poetic then I wanted, but I hope it's Bette enough for everybody, since she's awesome. =) Leave a review, they're love.**


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